We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aliena Cai a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Aliena, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I’ve always been a creative person, even when I was young and living in China. While other kids focused on studying for exams, I spent my time on design work, art, and making films. Despite the cultural emphasis on academics, I continued exploring design software and secretly attended many design competitions, even though I didn’t win any.

In university, I started several YouTube channels—dance, challenge, and vlog channels—but none took off. My program at Minerva University took me to seven different countries in four years, and I documented this digital nomad lifestyle, but still, my channels didn’t gain traction.

After graduation, during the pandemic, I struggled with job applications since I was used to networking in person. Although I studied business and computer science, I knew I wanted to do creative work. I pivoted to UX and product design, aiming for a tech role, but was unemployed for nine months.

During this time, I started a new YouTube channel and uploaded a video reviewing the Google UX Design Certificate. I was one of the few who completed the entire course and shared my project. That video went viral and became the foundation of my personal brand, Aliena Cai.

Since then, I’ve been uploading videos about design and my personal life, which brought many opportunities. I eventually landed a senior product design job at eBay but recently quit to focus on my own company, Aliena Design LLC. My goal is to nurture the next generation of design leaders through my product, Fast Track UX, a program featured on Forbes. It offers hands-on, practical learning on UX design before diving into theories, something I wish I had when I started.

Today, I manage my course platform, create YouTube content, sign brand deals, and sell my course. I’m now my own boss and earn as much as I did in my tech job. I’m grateful for the chance to do what I love every day, helping future design leaders through my unique approach.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is the freedom it provides, allowing me to travel the world while I work. This year, I took my family, including my mom and grandmother, to Dubai. Now that I’ve moved to Toronto, they are coming to visit me here. Since I was 18 years old, I’ve taken my grandmother and mom to at least two countries a year. I want to keep doing this, but working for other companies makes it harder to maintain such a free lifestyle.

So now, I work for myself. I can shoot my videos and talk with my clients in different countries, simply specifying my time zone before arranging meetings. I value family over work, and with my grandmother being 80 years old, I hope to travel the world with her while I still can. She is also my inspiration for design. I became a designer because I saw how digital products transformed her life when I was little.

At 15, I left my hometown by myself and bought my grandmother an iPad. Since then, we’ve been FaceTiming each other every day for over 10 years. I want to create designs that offer similar transformative experiences to others, helping them improve their lives. That’s why I pursue UX design.

Creativity for me isn’t limited to UX design; it includes making videos, something I love and enjoy documenting. I’m truly grateful for the freedom I have in my creative journey.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Aliana Cai is not my first YouTube channel. When I first started, I had a dance channel, followed by a challenge channel with my best friend, a reaction channel, and a travel vlogging channel. None of these took off. I tried both Chinese and international media. It wasn’t until I did the Google UX Design Certificate review video on Youtube that I had a viral success.

My advice for those starting to build their social media presence is to keep trying; eventually, your niche will find you. During my business major, my professor emphasized one phrase in every class: product-market fit. Finding the right audience feels like achieving product-market fit for your business.

To those who think many YouTube channels succeed with their first video, I want to say that the creators probably had many channels before, and that “first video” isn’t truly their first. As creators, we can always archive videos we don’t think are good enough. For me, I published more than 100 videos before I started the channel that actually took off.

Another piece of advice, besides persistence, is to treat social media like entrepreneurship. When you start a social media channel, you are starting a business. If you treat it seriously, as if you are running a business, you can be successful. If you treat it as a hobby or something that’s nice to have, it likely won’t take off.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fasttrackux.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thealienacai/
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/alienacai
• Twitter: https://x.com/alienacai
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/alienacai